100 Steps Backwards
by Eric F
Summary: Troy and Gabriella are an on again, off again couple. But since their recent nasty split, things haven't been the same. Plus, something strange is going on.  Troyella Rated M for language, sexual content, violence, and drug content. Chap 3. Up!
1. Beginning

Hey everybody! This is my first story here, and I hope you'll enjoy it!

I do not own HSM or any characters associated with it. The only thing I own here is my story.

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**100 Steps Backwards**

**By Eric F.**

"Troy mother fucking Bolton..."

The young man watched as the jocky basketball player crossed the pavilion in front of the high school and entered through the flooded corridors of the establishment. He crossed his arms in displeasure and walked away from the school, for he had already been kicked out of the school for truancy, and didn't like to think about the place.

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"Hey Troy!" said Gabriella Montez giddily, excited to see her on again, off again boyfriend.

"Hi, Gabi."

"What'd you do over spring break Troy, I've missed you!"

"Ah, nothing really exciting...just stayed at home, practiced basketball."

"Oh, I went down to the beach with Taylor for 3 days! It was great; I wish you could've been there!"

"Yeah."

Troy gazed at Gabriella awkwardly as the silence between them was becoming unbearable.

"HI TROY!!!"

Troy and Gabriella turned their heads only to see Sharpay Evans, one of their good friends. Sure, two years ago she tried to sabotage them out of attending a callback for their school play, but nonetheless, things had changed since then, and they were friends.

"Wait up, Sharpay!" her twin brother Ryan exclaimed as he caught up to his excited sibling.

"So, what'd you do over spring break Troy?" Sharpay asked anxiously, excited to see her two friends.

"Ah, not much just stayed home and shot some hoops." Troy said.

"Oh, well, I went to New York with my family! It was great, we went to a bunch of Broadway shows and our hotel was amazing! And..."

Troy cut her off, as he was losing interest in the subject. He still liked Sharpay as a friend and everything, but something wasn't right. Deep down, he knew Sharpay still had a crush on him, even after going out with Gabriella. Plus, after him and Gabriella's latest split, he had had a note of uncertainty in the back of his mind. Usually Gabriella and him always got back together eventually, but things didn't seem like it was going to happen this time.

And on top of that, it was senior year! Everyone was going off to some college; he had his eyes on Duke for a basketball scholarship, but that was beside the point. Would he ever get back together with Gabi? He could remember that night like it was yesterday...

(FLASHBACK)

_Three months ago..._

(Troy's POV)

'_Where am I?'_

What was I doing that night? Oh...yeah. I was drunk. I remember it clearly now, I fell on Gabriella's doorstep...

"Troy! What happened to you??!" She exclaimed

I couldn't even speak clearly; all I could let out were indecipherable mumbles and groans.

"Oh, let me take you inside"

She was so worried when she dragged me in that night. She laid me down on her bed and then I believe I was out cold, it gets blurry from here.

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The next morning I woke up and saw Gabi starring into my eyes, she looked very anxious and worried.

"Are you okay, Troy?"

"Uh...yeah, I'm fine. Just a little hung-over, that's all."

"Troy...we need to talk about this. This is the third time I've seen you drunk."

"Gabi, believe me, I'm fine. I can stop drinking whenever I want, it's nothing serious, I just needed to get away, you know?"

"No, Troy. This is serious. My parents are worried about me going out with you now because of your drinking habit!"

"It's not a habit."

"Yes it is, Troy! This may be only the third time I've seen you hung-over, but I know that you still drink! This has to stop! Or..."

"Or what?"

"Or, well, we'll have to break up. Because I can't take this much longer Troy, I know that it's your dad and all, but that's no reason to drink yourself to death! Please, Troy! Do it for me!"

"It's not a problem, and it's no big deal! I don't get why you're getting so upset! It's stupid!"

"Troy..."

"No! This isn't going to break me, Gabi! It never has and it never will! So why don't you stop being such a bitch and just fuck off!"

After I said that, I stormed out of the room. As I walked out, I could hear Gabi start to sob. To this day I don't know why I got so angry and said those things. It must've been stress or something, but I have to make it up for her. Somehow...

(END FLASHBACK)

(End Troy's POV)

"Troy? Troy?"

"Huh? What?"

"Oh, it's clear you zoned out on me, but that's okay, I can tell you more about my vacation later!" Sharpay said happily.

"Well, I better get to class! See ya Troy!" Sharpay exclaimed as she strutted her way to biology class.

The group was silent for a couple moments after Sharpay left.

Ryan was first to break the silence with a, "See ya guys! I have class too!" and he ran off to his own class.

So all that were left were Troy and Gabriella. They both were still hurt by the incident, but they still talked.

"Um...can I have private talk with you Gabi? We can go up to the garden."

"Well, alright Troy. But don't you have class?"

"Well, yes, but this is more important, now come on!"

He led her up to the garden, where he would finally tell her how he really felt. This would be it, his chance to finally explain what was up. He just prayed that he didn't mess this one up too.

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That's chapter 1 everybody! Hope you liked it! Please R&R!

eRiC


	2. A Talk At The Rooftop Garden

Hey! It's Chapter 2! (Oh, and this fic also contains drug content!)

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**Chapter 2:**

**A Talk At The Rooftop Garden/A Painful Memory**

Troy and Gabriella ascended up the stairway to the garden slowly. Troy was trying to think of something to say, while Gabriella was trying to figure out what Troy wanted to talk with her about. She just prayed to God this wouldn't be too hard to go through.

"What is it Troy?" Gabriella said quietly, almost at a whisper.

"Well, I wanted to talk about, well...the night."

"Troy, it's alright, I don't wanna talk about it--"

"No, Gabi. We need to. I made a mistake and I need to try and apologize for the stupid shit I've done in the past."

"Well, go ahead, I guess."

"I know that I said some terrible stuff to you that night, and I know that you were just trying to help. But I want you to know that I wasn't in the right mind! I was hung-over, and still pissed off from the night before, that's why I was drunk."

"What happened to you?"

"Well, my dad..."

"Oh."

"I just want you to know that I've been sober ever since that night, and I well, I don't think either of us are ready to get in a relationship again, but I was wondering, could we at least, well, be friends?"

Gabriella was silent for a moment. Troy could tell she was going to break down and cry at any second now. He looked in to her brown eyes, they were moistening, and she whimpered. This was it; she threw her body in Troy while she sobbed. All of those feelings of hurt were flowing out while she cried in to Troy's chest.

He caressed her hair while he kept on whispering,

"It's okay, Gabi. It's okay."

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The class bell rang as Troy and Gabriella walked down the stairway, back to the main corridor of East High. Troy wanted to ask Gabriella if they were alright with each other now, but he hesitated because he knew she was still afflicted from what had happened. It was time.

"Hey Gabi..."

"What is it?"

"Are...are we cool now?"

"Well, I guess I'm not as angry as I was before, but Troy, you have to understand, it's going to take a little time for me to get over what has happened. But I appreciate that you took the time to apologize to me. But, eventually, I still would like to be friends. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, yeah it is."

It wasn't exactly what Troy wanted, but it was a start. At least Gabriella didn't hate him like she did before. But he knew he would work this out. He just had to be with her and talk to her about it more.

"I have to go now, Troy. See ya later."

"Okay, see you later Gabi."

She walked off to her next class and left Troy in the locker bank. This gave him some time to think, because this period was his free one. What had happened that night? It was all coming back to him...

(FLASHBACK)

Mr. Bolton walked in to his front door.

"WHERE THE FUCK IS THAT KID?" He screamed in his drunken voice.

"Oh no..." Troy said to himself, he was prepared for the worst as he walked down the stairs.

"Dad..."

"What the fuck are you doin' up so late?"

"Dad, you're drunk, let me help you up to bed."

Troy tried to grab his father's hand. Sadly, this was a critical mistake.

"GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME YOU LITTLE BASTARD!"

"Dad, calm down, I was just trying to help!"

"I'll teach you to be a smartass, you little retard!"

Mr. Bolton took his fist and struck Troy with mighty force in the throat.

"Aaackkk!!!" Troy screamed as he fell to the ground.

"I'll kick your fuckin' teeth out!" Mr. Bolton said, his speech was becoming slurred.

He started kicking Troy's ribs while he was collapsed on the ground, but Troy arose from the ground with great quickness and grabbed his father and pinned him against the kitchen counter.

"Get the hell off of me you little fucker!"

"No, dad! You're drunk, now if you'd just calm down—"

"GET THE HELL OFF OF ME!"

But Troy wouldn't let go, because he had gone through this experience before. He knew he had to knock out his father, so Troy gave his father a quick squeeze in his pressure point on his neck so he would instantly pass out.

Troy took his unconscious father up to his bedroom and laid him there. Troy walked down to the kitchen and leaned against the counter. He wasn't very injured, just some bruises on his neck and ribs. He had became hardened from his father's beatings and had learned to fight for himself. Troy had swore to himself that he would never become like his father, but he had learned one other thing from his father. Drinking. It was one thing that could ease his pain.

He looked at the fridge. He knew it was stocked with alcohol because of his dad. Troy sighed and opened it. He grabbed a bottle of vodka and poured some into one of his father's shot glasses.

"Here's to another happy fucking night alone."

Troy downed the glass quickly and never looked back.

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After 6 more glasses, Troy was completely intoxicated, not even being able to speak. For some reason, he stumbled over to Gabriella's and knocked on her window. She saw him and went downstairs to open the door.

"What happened to you??!" She said, frightened.

And that's when Troy passed out on her doorstep.

(END FLASHBACK)

Troy was still leaning against his locker, completely in to his flashback when he finally resurfaced and went back to reality.

He stared at his shoes and walked down to the gym to practice basketball, it was another way for him to forget about his troubles and get away from it all.

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(A/N: The boy I am about to talk about is the boy from the beginning, you know, the Troy mother fucking Bolton kid. – Eric)

The pale boy was sitting in his smoke filled basement. In his life, there wasn't much else to do but get pissed off and do drugs. He rarely smoked pot with other people; he liked to do it on his own.

"East High. Man, what a fucked up joint...one of these days I'm gonna get back at those bastards. Yeah...that's it man."

He chuckled as he took his blunt and inhaled deeply. The fumes took him in, and he continued to plot against East High.

The boy's name was Ricky Servate. (A/N: Pronounced SIR-VAH-TA. - Eric) He was a burnout who got kicked out of school. But he had a chip on his shoulder. He hated that school and he hated everyone in it. But one person especially, Troy Bolton! Ricky despised all of the jocks, and he was their leader, their little peppy bastard leader. One day, he would get revenge on that school and the jocks! Even if that was the last thing he did.

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That's chapter 2! Hope you liked it! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!!


	3. Disturbance

Hey everyone! I'm back with Chapter 3! I don't know why, but I'm getting into this story! (Throughout this chapter there is a lack of dialogue, so bear with me, I'm trying to build up the storyline.)

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**Chapter 3**

**Disturbance**

Ricky Servate stood upon a hill that overlooked East High. Once again, he spotted Troy and his jocky friends running into the school. He had just started to stalk Troy a couple of weeks ago, but he had found out a wide variety of information. But one important piece of it was the girl that he adored. Gabriella Montez. She would fit into his master plan quite nicely; his plan to destroy all that Troy Bolton knew and loved.

He laughed to himself as he imagined how everything would turn out in the end. Ricky knew about Troy and Gabriella's problems, and he knew exactly how to destroy them both. It would work out perfect. It would be an operation neither of them would forget. _If _they lived to tell the tale.

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Gabriella walked out of her chemistry class with, surprisingly, a smile on her face. She had done well in the class, and had found the power within herself to not think about Troy. Of course, the wounds from worrying about Troy and dealing with some of his issues wouldn't heal quickly, and she knew that. But in the back of her head, she almost believed it would work out. It would take some convincing, though.

She met up with Taylor for lunch and they both trotted happily to lunch. They had no clue what was about to happen, and they were in for a ride.

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_SWOOSH!_

Troy had made another three pointer. He was on fire today, probably because he was trying to get Gabi off his mind. When he was completely focused on basketball, he was unstoppable.

_SWOOSH!_

Another one! Troy was feeling good, until the class bell rang. He figured he should probably go to class now, considering he already had skipped his carpentry class (just a slack off class that he usually skipped out on). But something was lingering in the back of his mind. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something just didn't feel right. It was almost like there was a warning bell going off in his mind. But all he knew was that something just wasn't in balance with everything else. Something dangerous.

But, Troy decided to shake it off and head to his next class. '_What's the worst that could happen? I'm probably just shaken up from Gabi.' _he thought to himself reassuringly.

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_RIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGG!!_

There was the bell, and the school day was over. To Troy and Gabriella, it had been one of the longest school days of all time. They met up in the hallway.

"Hi Troy."

"Hi Gabi."

That small bit of awkwardness was still between them, and Troy just couldn't find something to say that would break the ice the right way.

"So, are you doing anything interesting after school?" Troy said in a desperate attempt to break the awkward silence.

"No, just going home and doing homework. You?"

"Same. Uhh, well, see you tomorrow, kay?" Troy said strangely.

"Okay. See ya"

Gabriella walked off and Troy slapped himself in the face. He knew that she wasn't ready to talk about it. Troy just hoped things wouldn't be awkward forever. He had to fix this, he just didn't know how.

As Troy leaned against the locker bank, with his head in his hands, that warning bell set off in his head again. Something weird was going on; he could feel it this time. He had no clue what the problem was, but it was somewhere out there. But the strangest thing was that he somehow knew from somewhere the person that was causing this. But from where? He was going to get to the bottom of this. But first, he needed to figure out the Gabriella situation.

He sighed and walked towards his home in the suburbs, trying to think of a solution.

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Gabriella reached her front doorstep and walked inside her home.

"Hi, Mom."

Her mother smiled and greeted her with a hug.

"I'm gonna go upstairs and do my homework, kay?"

Mrs. Montez replied with a nod, and went back to what she was doing.

Gabriella sauntered up to her room and started to work on her close-to-impossible chemistry assignment. But it was no biggie for her; she was used to all of the pressures of being in AP Chemistry. She had it all down. She had to study hard, but once she got used to it, everything was a walk in the park.

"Finally, done." Gabriella said to herself after she finished all of her schoolwork an hour and a half later. She decided to turn on the TV in her room and relax for a bit. Gabriella started to think about Troy, and what had happened the night of the incident. She definitely wasn't as depressed about it as she was before, but it still gnawed at her mind once and awhile. The confused girl looked at her junior prom picture with her and Troy. She smiled to herself as she thought of those good memories.

But still, she sighed to herself at the same time. She had a feeling things between her and Troy would never be the same. It made her cry a little when she thought about how she felt that night. Such feelings of happiness were so foreign to her at these times. She was still torn between what she wanted in her head and what she wanted in her heart. Gabriella still would love to be with Troy and have him hold her close.

That was it, she was going to call him and tell him that she still wanted to be friends, she still wasn't ready to have a relationship with him yet, but it was worth a try.

She said the numbers to herself, "555-18--"

_RING! RING! RING!_

Gabriella flipped open her phone to see who the caller was.

"Hmm...unknown caller?" she said questioningly to herself.

She decided to press the green phone and see who it was, you never know, it might've been Troy.

"Hello?" Gabriella said.

"Hi, I've been waiting for you."

"Who is this?" Gabriella said, she didn't recognize the voice at all.

"Don't you remember me?"

"I don't know who you are. How did you get this number?"

"Don't question me!" The voice suddenly became aggressive.

"Who is this?!!"

"I'm waiting for you, I'm not too far from your house. Do I have to come over there and get you myself?!"

"Who in the HELL is this?!!!" Gabriella yelled. She was frightened now.

The conversation went dead silent, and all Gabriella could hear was heavy breathing for about a minute.

"WHO IS THIS??"

Nothing. After another 10 seconds of breathing all she could hear was dial tone. This was weird. Some psycho had just called her phone threatening to come to her house for no reason. It was freaking her out.

She curled on to her bed and waited there for a hour, waiting to see what would happen.

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After a hour, everything seemed to be fine. She just told herself it was a prank call, and everything would be alright. But the voice in the back of her mind was telling her that something screwy was up, and it involved her. It was 8:00PM now. She was stressed from her eventful day and let sleep take her in.

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Ricky Servate was still cackling out of pleasure from his successful phone call. He was striking fear into Gabriella first, so she would tell Troy. That was when he would strike. He knew that Troy cared about Gabriella more than life itself, so Troy would even sacrifice his life for her. This was what he wanted, this is what he had planned for so many years. He laughed to himself again, for he had began his slippery descent into madness.

"Cheers, everyone!" Ricky exclaimed as he took a drink from his shot glass of cheap vodka.

Life was good for Ricky, but little did Troy and Gabriella know, things were about to take a devastating turn for the worse...

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Did you like my twist in the storyline? I hope so! I tried to make it suspenseful! I hope you liked it!

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!

eRiC

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